
- There were several vocalists who in previous years would not have secured enough support to get through to Hollywood. It's going to be interesting to see how this judging crew makes tough choices in Hollywood with people who might be able to sing but who don't have a chance to win. In most cases in previous years, Simon would shut them down and Randy would be a joiner with him because Randy is a joiner. This week, he joined with JLo and Steven as they let in the medium talent.
- The first night still contained one of my pet peeve segments for the early rounds: the "sing-a-log" to the Miley Cyrus tune "Party in the U.S.A." - and this one was even worse, because they used the Japanese Michael Jackson dude as the first person to sing it. He actually says "I hate the Miley song" or something like that. When he first said that, I thought it odd but attributed it to my inability to understand what he was saying. But then they followed his complete audition with a montage of other awful people singing the song.
So here's what that means: it means that he did not come prepared to sing that song. It means that his first audition was with something else, and then they asked/forced him to sing it. Along with everyone else who sucked. At least this week they added people who were good singing along with it, but I find that whole device to be offensive. Of course they don't know the song and they suck - they weren't prepared to sing it in the first place.
- They have been successful so far in capturing some great stories of hardship and great singers who are trying to overcome great odds. And I really like the few 15 year olds that they have harvested. Can't imagine that they will survive, but (after a too long bio sequence involving the new judges) they have put the focus in the right place - the singers!